Hydrocarbons Archive

In this blog post, we will discuss the benefits of natural gas and explore how the United States can effectively utilize this resource.

One of the main benefits of petroleum is its versatility. It can be refined into a variety of products, including gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and lubricants. This makes it a crucial resource for the transportation sector, which is heavily reliant on liquid fuels. Additionally, petroleum is used in the production of plastics, synthetic fibers, and other materials, making it a key input for many industries.

One of the key benefits of oil shale is its abundance. The United States Geological Survey estimates that the country’s oil shale deposits contain around 4.3 trillion barrels of oil equivalent, which is more than three times the amount of recoverable oil reserves in Saudi Arabia. This means that if the United States were to develop its oil shale resources, it could potentially become a net exporter of oil, which would reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil and enhance its energy security.

As of January 1, 2008, the DRB was estimated to contain 489 billion short tons (a short ton is a unit of weight equal to 2,000 pounds). The U.S. uses just over a billion short tons of coal each year. As of January 1, 2008, the U.S.A. DRB was estimated to contain 489 billion tons.

The United States has an estimated 260 billion tons of recoverable coal, equivalent to three or four times as much energy in coal as Saudi Arabia has in oil. And, that’s only the coal that can be taken out of the ground today with existing technology — the total Demonstrated Reserve Base of USA coal is over 490 billion tons. And, if anyone fears that the USA may run out of coal too quickly, the North American oil shale deposits are estimated to hold over one trillion (1,000,000,000) barrels of oil, recoverable with technology that exists today. One trillion barrels of synthetic petrole…

John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club and regarded by many as the Father of America’s National Parks, had a love for technological invention. John Muir was a practical man; his work to protect and preserve the natural wilderness was not motivated by abstract idealism.

Coal gasification, in some form, is the technology that will solve the problem of air pollution caused by coal burning. The U.S. Government has joined with private companies to develop a near-zero emissions Coal gasification and electricity generation Power plant called “FutureGen”, See: www.futuregenalliance.org. However, Coal gasification is not new. The Great Plains Synfuels Plant has been operated by the Dakota Gasification Company since 1988. The FutureGen Power plant is intended to duplicate much of Dakota Gas’s process, but with greatly improved efficiency and with the production …

When crude oil is selling above $50 per barrel, synthetic fuels made from coal or other non-petroleum sources of hydrocarbon molecules become economically competitive — but only if refineries have the technology to “refine” unconventional hydrocarbons and biomass, in addition to petroleum.

The widespread availability of cheap mechanical power unleashed the industrial revolution, altering the course of human history. Modern civilization began with the industrial revolution and will continue its advance until all nations have the technology and standard of living that defines the modern world. Global communication and modern transportation systems have changed the geo-economic relationships between nations — modern technology has overcome the great distances and naturally isolated geographical locations that have historically separated the peoples of the world. 19th-centu…